by ASILA JALIL / Pic by BERNAMA

THE application for the PerantiSiswa Malaysia Family package will open from mid-April and sets to benefit 400,000 students in higher education institutions (IPT) from the bottom 40% (B40) income group. 

Communication and Multimedia Minister Tan Seri Annuar Musa (picture) said the programme, an initiative under Budget 2022 and spearheaded by his ministry, will be implemented in June. 

“The programme involves an allocation of RM450 million and it will be implemented with the cooperation from Finance Ministry and the Ministry of Higher Education (MoHE). 

“This initiative aims to help IPT students from the B40 income group, mainly families with an average household income below RM4,850,” he said during his winding up speech in the Dewan Rakyat yesterday. 

He said the initiative will assist B40 students to get equal access to education and the devices will be provided for free to eligible students. 

The package was first announced during the tabling of Budget 2022 in October last year to ensure IPT students have necessary devices and are connected to the Internet at a reasonable cost. 

The initiative serves as a platform to help students to attend online classes and surf the Internet for research purposes. 

“This initiative will involve all students from the B40 income group who are pursuing their diploma, advance diploma and degree at a public university, polytechnic, community college and private higher education institutions under MoHE,” he said. 

On the National Digital Network (Jendela) initiative, the minister said efforts are being done to improve broadband services nationwide. 

As at the fourth quarter of 2021 (4Q21), a total of 1,131 new towers have been constructed out of the 3,205 towers and 30,180 transmitter stations have been upgraded from the 30,810 stations that are planned. 

He added that 1,89 million out of 2.53 million premises have been upgraded to fibre optic access. 

“Some 437 occasions have been installed with WiFi out of 839 locations while 402 locations are underway,” he said. 

He added 4G coverage in Malaysia has also increased to 95.40% in 4Q21 from 91.8% before the implementation of Jendela in 2Q20. 

On Wednesday, the government announced that it will maintain the implementation of the 5G network as a single wholesale network. 

It will open space for telecommunications companies (telcos) that hold equity in Digital Nasional Bhd (DNB) with 70% of DNB equity to be offered to telcos, while the government continues to hold 30%.